Party awards woman for evacuating 57 people before landslide struck village

Liu Mingfang, a grassroots official of Zhonghe village in western Guangdong province, has been awarded an "Outstanding Communist Party Member of Maoming City" for successfully evacuating 57 villagers of 25 households from their homes just before a landslide submerged the village as a result of torrential rains from typhoon recently.

Liu was granted the title by the CPC Maoming Municipal Party Committee on Thursday.

Zhonghe village is located in Guizi town, Maoming city of Guangdong province, an area affected by the extreme weather brought by typhoon in mid-June.

At 0:58 am on June 15, Liu and her colleagues navigated flooded roads with flashlights, using loudspeakers and bronze gongs to wake up villagers door-to-door and instruct them to leave immediately.

"You can scold me, but you must move to the safe place first," Liu reportedly told villagers who were reluctant to leave.

At around 4 am, a landslide triggered by the downpour sent muddy water crashing down, submerging half of the village at the foot of the mountain in minutes.

Liu's timely actions ensured no casualties were reported in her village.

She was soaked through by the time the last villager was safely evacuated. "When disaster strikes, the lives of the villagers always come first," she said.

Born in 1979, Liu was elected as a village cadre in July 2018 and became a member of the Communist Party of China in December 2020. Having engaged in disaster prevention and reduction work for years, Liu has now become experienced in this field.

Liu's Zhonghe village Party branch was also granted with the title of "Advanced Grassroots Party Organization of Maoming City" on Thursday.